How to Promote Your Crowdfunding Campaign on Social Media

Asking for help can be hard. As women and entrepreneurs, we feel like we have to do everything in our lives and businesses. That’s a lot of pressure to carry around, and it can lead to overwhelm and burnout pretty quickly. I’ve learned that as we build our businesses, most of us have so many people in our lives who want to help us but don’t know exactly how.

Crowdfunding makes it easy. It gives you a platform on which to share your dreams and allow people to support you; some of those people are already in your life, waiting for a way to ease your burden. Others will come into your life and business and gladly help fund you if you can get your cause in front of them.

I fell into crowdfunding a few years ago when one of my business coaches, Patty Lennon, funded her dream of holding the Mom Gets a Business Conference on IndieGogo and asked me to provide the social media support to help spread the word as well as drive traffic to the campaign page. The campaign was 125% funded in 30 days, the conference was a smashing success, countless women-owned businesses were born by energized moms, and I was hooked by the energy of this community.

If you’re planning your own crowdfunding campaign, here are some important things to keep in mind when it comes to social media:

1. Start building your presence on social media as early as possible, preferably several months before you launch. Use this time to build relationships with influencers, bloggers, media and potential donors as well as give people a glimpse into your personality and mission.

2. Choose the correct social media platform or platforms to promote your campaign. You need to have a working knowledge and be comfortable engaging with people on that platform (and/or delegate your strategy to a professional); you also need to think about where your friends, family and potential donors spend the most time.

3. Karma is a boomerang, and the law of reciprocity is alive and well on social media. That means it’s an excellent opportunity to connect with other crowdfunders and support them. Like, Comment on, Share and donate to their campaigns and they’ll be more likely to do the same for you. In the process, you’ll be learning more about the current trends and crowdfunding platforms.

4. Remember the 80/20 rule. 80% of your content should be information that your followers would find informative, helpful and/or entertaining; 20% can be promotional, such as links to your campaign page. Stick to this ratio and you’ll avoid appearing too salesy or turning people off.

5. Above all, show don’t sell. Tell your story and why you care so much about your mission, then invite people to learn more on your campaign page.